Half Hour before Sunset & the Last Week in February

I love walking before sunset. Images change, light changes depending on direction from the sun etc.
Here some changes from Sunday afternoon in my local park

Bare trees outlined against the blue sky

Then turning towards the sun an entirely different colour

To the left of the sun

and now in opposite direction with back to the sun

In the shade with the 'behind' sun lighting up the Dogwoods

The sky is still blue pointing in the right direction

Then turning back to face the slowly disappearing  sun

Turning again

Catching the sun

and the Heron

and finally the setting sun

disappearing

Have been struggling with a nasty infection (mainly cough) which I seemed to have picked up at our house church weekend away as I was certainly not the only one

Daughter unable to come over in the school holiday as young Oliver was poorly

Made up for it by coming over last Saturday though. Oliver has certainly 'shot up' since Christmas

Tuesday Alan decided to go into London to spend his Christmas gift vouchers for HMV - a great selection of New Orleans Jazz there - his favourite

He ended up stranded on the underground for a while as someone jumped/fell onto the track in front of train

However he did eventually get to Whittard's where he bought me the above teapot and 4 mugs (the colours are deeper than shown on the photograph as I did not take the sun into the equation) I do have a number of teapots but wanted a different size

Friday became a learning curve. I had offered to cook 5 large chickens for an upcoming church meal and to take the meat from the bone ready to freeze

I bought the chickens and settled down to cook them before really thinking it through. Five chickens taking two and a half hours each to cook is twelve and a half hours cooking time alone!!

Fortunately my next door neighbour has 2 ovens so I spread the load between mine and hers and it still took most of the day.

 So one more day of February to go as it is Leap Year and looking forward to the emergence of Spring as we slide into March

Happy Springtime everyone

Beachy Head, East Sussex

During our Saturday afternoon leisure time at our house church weekend away,  Alan and I decided to visit Beachy Head.

It was so bitterly cold nobody else was interested in walking in such a cold windy spot but it seemed an ideal time to capture a very different atmosphere to what one would experience during the Summer months.

So here we are looking down on  the town of Eastbourne with the sun lighting up the town amidst the Winter haze.

and yes, it was cold with an icy wind and it was almost unbearable to use my camera but I was determined to not let it beat me completely

Here we see Alan reading the following

scripture plaque

Beachy Head is a great beauty spot and popular with walkers but with it's towering chalk cliffs and a drop of between 500 and 600 feet at this point it is also a very well known suicide scene

There is a local Chaplaincy team and they were called to 7 incidents during the week we were there

The following week there were 20 incidents and 7 people were rescued and sadly one body was recovered that week by the coastguards.

Alan and I plus a few people who were standing near to us were very concerned about the person we can see from here. Before I got my camera out he was leaning over with his hands in the air

Then 3 people show up and he walks away

Such a disturbing scene as I was capturing the sun on the water

He may just have been fooling around, we will never know

Turning to face the other direction amazing to see how the scene changes as the late afternoon sun bathes the cliffs in light

and then it is time to return

I would have loved to stay and take some sunset photos but we are freezing and it is a while off sunset yet

A Walk around Lewes, East Sussex

Having left the castle we have walked along part of the High Street where we come to Keere Street on the left where we see this

Fifteen*th Century Bo*ok Shop

As I step through the door on the corner and take a photo of what is obviously a great collection of old children's books a lady immediately appears and very rudely says "delete that immediately" while ushering me to the door and slamming it in my face!

How I wanted to browse those books, seeing many of my childhood favourites, but not now!

Instead we begin to walk down the hill, our intention is to visit "Anne of Cleves" House, a bit of a walk yet

It's mid afternoon and children are on  their way home from  school

We come to Anne of Cleves 15th Century Timber framed house. She was the 4th wife of King Henry VIII

It formed part of Queen Anne's annulment settlement from King Henry in  1541 although she never visited the property

Anne of Cleves was the fourth wife of King Henry VIII; it was a very brief marriage, to the astonishment of all observers but the relief of both spouses. Henry infamously referred to his bride as a 'Flanders mare' and told courtiers and ambassadors that he could not perform his husbandly duties because of Anne's appearance. Anne's reaction to Henry's physical charms was not recorded, but she agreed to an annulment very quickly and remained in England for the rest of her life. Henry was grateful for her cooperation and granted her a generous income and several homes, including Hever Castle. Anne enjoyed an independent lifestyle denied most women, often visiting Henry's court as an honored guest. Her fondness for English ale and gambling were her only vices. Along with her successor as Henry's wife, Catherine Howard, Anne remains a mysterious figure about whom too little is known. Had she and Henry remained married and had children, the course of English history might have changed dramatically. But the mysteries of physical attraction denied Anne her place on the throne, ended the brilliant career of Thomas Cromwell, and thrust the king into the arms of his ill-fated fifth queen, Catherine Howard.

Read the biography of Anne of Cleves.  History buffs can read this biography (which is very interesting and explains much about the time) by clicking on this link

The place is not heated so it closes at 4.30 pm and it is now 4.15 pm so we do not go in to look around

but begin to make our way back to the car instead

We are actually on our way to a conference centre and have access to our room after 4.0 pm and it is extremely cold

Looking back down the hill - note the original cobble stones

Passing Bull House built in 1480 where between 1768 - 1774 lived Thomas Paine, writer and revolutionary

and back past the castle entrance

through the Barbican arch

passing some tiny cottages

and do you feel you are being watched while walking past this door

Interesting the late afternoon sun shining on the castle as it goes down. Another 5 minutes and we will be back to the car.